1957 Biarritz and Castles in Spain

In 1957, we drove south to Biarritz for our summer vacation.  

Hotel du Palais

Beach and Hotel du Palais

We stayed at L'Hotel du Palais, which was beautiful.  

We always stayed in the best hotels because as she told my dad all the time, these were once-in-lifetime experiences.   

Postcard that looks just like
the view from our room

Rock outside the window

I don't remember much about the hotel except that out the window we could see the ocean and a big rock.  One morning we heard a helicopter and there it was, right between our hotel window and the big rock, lowering a metal basket to the ocean.  Then someone climbed in the basket and the helicopter took off, with the basket swaying.  We were really excited that we had seen a real life rescue, but we learned later that it was a drill.  Still, it was exciting to me.

  

Beach at Biarritz

Surf at Biarritz

Biarritz was a beautiful place, with big white sandy beaches and really high surf.  The waves were huge and the water wasn't as cold as I was used to on the New England coast.  Apparently, it was well known for the excellent surf.



We had an air mattress, the most awesome one I have ever seen.  It was orange with yellow sides.  It had a window on both sides so you could see through to the water below.  It had a cushion and pillar type construction, so it was extremely stable. 

I would take the air mattress and go out and ride back in on the waves, sometimes with my sister in tow.  It was pretty deep though.  My mother spent all her time lying on the beach getting a tan.  I don't really know what my dad did, he wasn't much of a beach bum.  He probably dropped us off and went looking for refineries.

Great Pyrenees

Biarritz to San Sebastian
across the France/Spain border

One day we decided to go to Spain, to San Sebastian.  It wasn't very far. I thought we would cross the Pyrenees and I was convinced I there would be big white dogs galloping along the road.  

Of course, I didn't, because we never even saw the mountains.  


When we got to the French/Spanish border, they checked out passports.  I was very proud of the fact that I had my own.  Then we had to get out of the car and they casually searched it.  I think the Customs agents wanted to check it out more than anything, because they did a lot of talking and nodding their heads.  Then we were on our way.  As we were driving, at one point, my mother asked my dad to stop and take a picture of what looked like an old castle.  My mother sighed and said "There is it, my castle in Spain."  I didn't know what she was talking about but I found out later that a 'castle in Spain' is an unachievable goal, an unobtainable dream.

Castle in Spain

In San Sebastian, the first thing we did was go to the top of a mountain so we could see the spectacular view that was so famous.  

View of San Sebastian

When we went down to the city, we didn't go to the beach, we walked in the city.

My dad admired the architecture and my mother admired the shops and boutiques.  





We had lunch at a small restaurant off the main street.  It was almost like a cave, dark and cool.  For our first course, we had French fries, very good and crispy, not really like any I had had before.  They were so good that while my parents were busy talking about the day so far, I ate almost all of them.  When my dad noticed, he laughed and said "My goodness, you really liked that squid, didn't you?  Should we get more?"   What?  I almost gagged on the spot.  Squid?  I just ate an entire plate full of tentacles?  It took all my willpower not to throw up but I could tell by the expression on both my parents' face that would not be wise.  I just sat there afraid to open my mouth at all for the rest of the meal.  Of course by an hour or two later, I had gotten over it.  That was my one and only time to eat squid.  

Looking back, it must have been pretty good.